People not politics

Honestly I don’t think calling yourself a skeptic is that big of a deal, however I feel like many people of all demographics tend to be one sided on a large array of topics. I feel as though it only makes sense for people to look for evidence that supports their claims this day in age, and understand the other side. Considering you can pull up a ton of studies, statistics and various point of views by simply googling the subject of debate you would assume everyone would do that. Instead when people have an opportunity to gain infinite knowledge they choose ignorance and bias. So unfortunately we’ll have to deal with others ignoring the facts on every topic of conversation ever and with them bashing people who have different views.

I can’t help but think that there needs to be a test before one can call themself a skeptic. It’s amazing how many people call themselves skeptics while having no critical thinking skills once so ever. This is the biggest reason I don’t really identify as a skeptic.

Today I received a reply to a comment I wrote on YouTube. The person considered themself a skeptic, but they couldn’t be bothered to supply any evidence to support their claim that masculinity and femininity are biological despite the fact that different cultures around the world hold to different ideas about what is masculine and what is feminine. Skeptics are supposed to be critical of all claims, and they are supposed to look at the evidence before they decide what is true, but so few actually do that. So many skeptics ignore the evidence and determine what they believe to be true…

They continued to taunt him as though men couldn’t have panic attacks.

A man thirteen or thirty can fall apart,

After all even the toughest men have a heart.

I wrote this in hopes of increasing the awareness of men who suffer from mental disorders such as anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder or any other problems that disable them not necessarily physically but mentally and emotionally. So many men have suffered through great tragedies rather it’s something they’ve seen on the battlefield or anything else. However, I would also like to stress that nobody has to go through some terrible experience to feel depressed or anxious.

One of the huge problems men with anxiety disorders encounter is that they don’t seek help. Men are more likely to attempt to drone out their feelings and find unhealthy ways of coping because they’re less likely to seek help than women are. This can be due to a fear of losing their pride considering “real men” don’t deal with these sort of problems.

Having men and teenage boys suffer in silence because the way society perceives them is ridiculous. According to NIMH “A large, national survey of adolescent mental health reported that about 8 percent of teens ages 13–18 have an anxiety disorder.. of these teens, only 18 percent received mental health care..” And “Anxiety disorders affect about 40 million American adults age 18 years and older (about 18%) in a given year”. This is not an uncommon problem yet such a small amount of people who are affected get treatment. Kids are still forced to present in front of classrooms full of children when it makes their knees weak, men are still forced to act like it’s all fine.

I’m not saying women have it easy, they’re twice as likely to suffer from many anxiety disorders. But, I’ve heard people say thing about anxiety and depression like “That’s just for teenage girls.” And it’s not acceptable.

If you have a sibling, parent, uncle, aunt, friend or anyone else you know who you think is struggling from a disorder please offer support. Look into it, learn how to address someone when they’re having a panic attack, learn what can help them, encourage treatment. Many people have good intentions but make the victims of anxiety disorders feel worse. Don’t make your loved one feel like a mistake, do everything you can. You could very well end up saving a life.

I’m sure many of the men and women reading this understand that menstruation is viewed so poorly. However for those of you who do not I’ll paint a brief picture for you. Women feel the need to hide the materials they use to keep the blood from disrupting their lives or ruining their clothing. Commercials advertising products such as tampons and pads emphasize on how discreet their product is (which is fine), but they also make “Mother Nature” in this case an enemy who girls must try to conquer.

However, while those may not have a perfect ideal they’re not the real problem. Women are insulted for trying to voice their opinions and for being “too emotional”. Wonderful and needed ideas and opinions are discarded because “They’re just PMSing.” That shouldn’t be an insult. Would it seem legitimate to dismiss someone’s thoughts because they have a headache or stomach ache? Does anybody ever dismiss a man for being moody? No.

So why do people do this? The answer is tradition. The Bible and Qur’an are popular religious texts that have been around for a very long time. They greatly influenced majority of the population and these morals in these texts continue to be passed down, even by people who aren’t religious. If you don’t believe me then ask yourself why there’s still a moral standard for women to abstain from sexual activities in a modern world where we are independent people.

Now, back onto the matter of the subject. Religious texts encourage such terrible treatment of women who are menstruating.

Leviticus 15:19-31

When a woman has her monthly period, she remains unclean for seven days, and if you touch her, you must take a bath, but you remain unclean until evening.Anything that she rests on or sits on is also unclean, and if you touch either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening.Any man who has sex with her during this time becomes unclean for seven days, and anything he rests on is also unclean.

Any woman who has a flow of blood outside her regular monthly period is unclean until it stops, just as she is during her monthly period.Anything that she rests on or sits on during this time is also unclean, just as it would be during her period.If you touch either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. When any of you are unclean, you must stay away from the rest of the community of Israel. Otherwise, my sacred tent will become unclean, and the whole nation will die.

Seven days after the woman gets well, she will be considered clean.On the eighth day, she must bring either two doves or two pigeons to the front of my sacred tent and give them to a priest. He will offer one of the birds as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me; then I will consider the woman completely clean.

Qur’an 2:222

And they ask you about menstruation. Say, “It is harm, so keep away from wives during menstruation. And do not approach them until they are pure. And when they have purified themselves, then come to them from where Allah has ordained for you. Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who purify themselves.”

According to the Bible and Qur’an the appropriate way to treat women a fourth of the month is to separate yourselves from them, consider them and everything they touch unclean and they need to repent for a COMPLETELY NATURAL part of life that means they can have kids. Plus it’s a nice touch how a nation will die if women aren’t excluded from living their lives a fourth of the time.

There’s historical texts that convey the same messages as well. Luckily things aren’t as bad now as they were hundreds of years ago, but that doesn’t mean the problem shouldn’t be addressed. Women of all colors and sizes are hurt by others invalidating their feelings and thoughts all because of some blood.

Honestly this only makes sense, women should be able to bear their breasts in the same places men can. So yeah, having a woman shirtless in a movie theater or church shouldn’t be acceptable. Why? Well it wouldn’t be acceptable for a man to do the same thing. However, if a woman is at a beach and doesn’t want tan lines or is hot or whatever reason she’d want to take her shirt off it should be acceptable as it would be for a man. Boobs are natural and aren’t designed for the pleasure of men, so if I wanted to go to Rehobeth Beach and went topless, why should I be ridiculed, victimized (while being portrayed as the perpetrator) and a man can do the same thing and no one bats an eye. Meanwhile the police could be called on me, or even a breastfeeding mother depending on the state.
As for you wondering why, some blame the puritans for starting it all here in America, others blame the media for using boobs to sell everything from cars to watches to beer

Free The Nipple! It shouldn’t be illegal for women to breastfeed their babies in public, in fact it should be promoted. Breastfeeding is not only good for the baby but the mother too. It can even reduce baby’s risk of disease later in life. Also Breastfeeding reduces the mom’s risk of ovarian and breast cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis. The longer she breastfeeds, the higher the benefit. In fact, a woman who breastfeeds for 8 years has nearly a 0% risk of breast cancer. Now why should something that prevents breast cancer be illegal? Breastfeeding saves a family approximately $2 to 4 thousand dollars annually. In comparison to having to buy formula.

Free The Nipple! Okay so the main point that #FREETHENIPPLE is trying to get across is that we were all created equally, so why can a guy show his breast but a woman can not? That does not…

You all should really stop to read a couple of these. I find that many people don’t understand the emotions and objectivation of minorities. This is the life of people being seen as not invaluable (such as how it is in people who are part of the majority), but as unimportant.
The treatment of men, women transgenders, cross dressers and everyone else should simply be what should be expected of the treatment of people. However, you look at these stories and you’ll see this isn’t the reality. Try to understand and be someone who makes a difference. Show your support.

I wanted to share these stories about love and music and beauty and family. These stories are also about hair, about plastic surgery, about skin color, about contending with the harmful standards imposed by white privilege. They’re all written by writers of color, whose stories don’t always get the air time they deserve. My inspirations for this list: summer is coming; Arabelle Sicardi’s unique aesthetic; my haircut; Baltimore; and more. I hope you find a writer you love and a story that resonates with you, today.

This essay blew me away. Sharisse writes about the history of her hair: the painful braiding process, and how it affects every aspect of her life. The offensive questions from strangers. The nervousness she feels when she finds out she’s pregnant with a girl, and the irony infused in her daughter’s…

There’s a huge misconception of feminism and what it is throughout people of all demographics. Women who have been given the right to vote, own property, to serve in the military, have equal pay and have their voices heard because of feminists condemn the belief in feminism. They hold up signs on the internet and say things in person such as “I’m not a feminist because I don’t hate men.” Or “I’m not a feminist because I care about EVERYBODY’S rights.”

Clearly, they have little understanding as to what this means. As you can see from above the word feminism is the quest for quality among genders, not seeking superiority for women. This misconception truly hurts women not just throughout America but the world.

I’d like to give some more modern day examples to illustrate why feminism is needed, not in areas like the Middle East, but here in my homeland.

Feminism is needed because women still spend twice as much time at home caring for children and three times as much on housework. Gender roles continue to prevent equality within the homes of families. Of course if a woman wishes to stay home with her kids, that is her decision. But, women who have careers get shunned for not spending time with children or trying to create a family while men are praised for their hard work. Nobody ever asks a man why he’s working instead of watching the kids or why he doesn’t settle down for a family.

Feminism is needed because slogans for breast cancer include “Save the Tatas” Or “Save Second Base” when cancer is taking away our sisters and mothers we focus on the sexual and aesthetic value of her tits instead of the value of their lives. Why aren’t the slogans things like “Save our mothers” or something catchy about defeating cancer and fighting the good fight? Why are boobs so sexualized that women throughout the nation are dying from breast cancer and we’re just focusing on saving second base?

Feminism is needed because in the workplace women are given lower paying jobs. We make up 86% of paralegals, a third of lawyers, 16% of partners in law firms and just 4% of fortune 1000 CEOs. This is not because women have no interest in law clearly because nearly nine out of ten paralegals are women. This is not because women are not capable of what men are. In virtually every industry men are the leaders, the CEOs and the women who make it to such impressive titles are frowned upon by society and make less money.

Feminism is needed because when I argue that women should have equal rights to men, guys ask me if that means they can hit me. I ask for equality and they automatically assume that means they have permission to physically attack me. (Which by the way I see assaulting or committing battery against anybody as a violation of their rights because IT IS.)

Feminism is needed because when see girls walk around in a tank top in school because it’s 90 degrees outside, they get objectified as objects for pleasure. Their bodies are not seen as their own and something that they should respect and embrace. Instead they’re seen as a distraction because shoulders and yoga pants are too sexual. This encourages our current rape culture where the victim is blamed. Teachers even say things along the lines of “If they’re not following the dress code they’re probably a slut anyway.” (Which in my opinion makes the teacher seem like a bit of a pervert for focusing on the bodies of minors.) This causes young girls to self-objectify and that causes issues such as depression and eating disorders.

Feminism is needed because boobs are used to sell everything from beer, cars and even things like watches and perfume. Yet, a low cut top or a women without a bra in public is taboo. Boobs are on the front of magazines to be bought, American stores are okay with selling boobs, but being confident with your own body makes you a whore subjected to discrimination.

Feminism is needed because women who breastfeed in public aren’t protected by the law from harassment. They’re forced to feed their infants in dirty public bathrooms and many men compare breastfeeding in public to “feeding” their wife or girlfriend in the same places. Something needed to keep a child alive and healthy is seriously compared to an act in public that only has a sexual nature.

Feminism is needed because when I talk about the oppression of women, especially those of color most people tune me out or act as though I’m full of hate for men.